Policies

Reducing the Voting Age

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Moved byLiberal Party of Canada (Nova Scotia)

WHEREAS early engagement in civic affairs is believed to lead to the establishment of a pattern of engagement that endures throughout life;

WHEREAS by the age of 16, Canadian citizens are legally permitted to be employed on a full-time basis, to pay employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan premiums, and to be married with or without parental consent;

WHEREAS by the age of 16, Canadian citizens are legally permitted to enroll in the Canadian Reserves and at age 17 can enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces;

WHEREAS by the age of 16, Canadian citizens may apply for a license to operate a motor vehicle on a public highway;

WHEREAS by the age of 16, Canadian citizens may, if appropriate, be tried as adults for offences under the Criminal Code;

WHEREAS given the foregoing, there is no justifiable reason for the continued exclusion of Canadian citizens aged 16 or older but less than 18 years from full participation in the electoral process;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Cumberland Colchester Federal Liberal Association (the Association) calls upon the Liberal Party of Canada to adopt as a policy that the age for eligibility of a Canadian citizen to be an elector in future federal elections, beginning in 2019, be lowered from eighteen (18) years to sixteen (16) years;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the age to stand as a candidate remain eighteen (18) years;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Association calls upon the Liberal Party of Canada to promote compulsory secondary school education in the area of civics and political organization directed at informing future electors of the basic mechanisms by which our parliamentary democracy works, and in particular addressing such topics as comparative electoral methods, division of constitutional powers (ss. 91 and 92 of the Constitution Act 1867), the role of parliament, the government and the judiciary.